Telecommunication systems are electromagnetic-based systems that enable information to be communicated over large geographical areas. Such information includes written or printed matter, visual signals such as fixed or motion pictures, audio signals such as music, and the like.
A conventional telecommunication network includes a plurality of network elements distributed over a large area and connected by a transmission medium. The transmission medium may be copper wire, coaxial cable, fiber optics, radio or microwave, or a combination of these and other mediums.
The network elements are typically connected to local termination equipment by regional networks. Termination equipment accepts a user's voice and other information and transforms them into electromagnetic signals suitable for transmission over the regional network. Examples of termination equipment include telephones, computer modems, facsimile machines and video conferencing equipment.
Network elements generally comprise transmission equipment and switching equipment. Transmission equipment accepts regional signals and changes them appropriately for transmission over the medium. To superimpose signals onto the medium, the transmission equipment may modulate a carrier signal. Additionally, transmission equipment often multiplexes a large number of signals over the medium. Switching equipment provides interconnectivity between network components by routing information over the network. Switching equipment is typically computer-controlled and contains electronic switching matrices.
To account for equipment failure, network elements also include protection switching subsystems and redundant transmission and switching equipment. Protocols for regulating protection switching actions are established by industry standards, such as the Automatic Protection Switching (APS) protocol defined by Bellcore. Typically, a protocol is implemented by providing a unique control program that conforms to the specific equipment of a telecommunications system. Such customization of control programs for specific telecommunications systems, however, is expensive. Therefore, there exists a need in the art for an improved method and system for implementing a protection switching protocol in a telecommunications system.